Bottas takes maiden pole position in Bahrain

Mercedes Valterri Bottas takes his first ever pole position ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel as both Nico Hulkenberg and Jolyon Palmer make it into Q3 for the first time for Renault.

15/04/17

Qualifying

Q1

Pascal Wehrlein is the first driver out on the track and is the first to complete a lap time of a 1:33:502. Valterri Bottas is next for Mercedes and completes a lap of a 1:31:041 on the Soft tyre. Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen are next with Verstappen getting the better of Ricciardo. Lewis Hamilton goes quickest with a 1:30:814 on the Soft tyre with Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel also setting their lap times on the Soft tyre. With 4 minutes to go, Lance Stroll, Kevin Magnussen, Marcus Ericsson, Esteban Ocon and Romain Grosjean are in the drop-zone.

Kimi Raikkonen heads back out on the track with a set of the Supersoft tyres. He improves to a 1:30:988. The chequered flag falls with Jolyon Palmer, Fernando Alonso, Daniil Kvyat, Esteban Ocon are all safe as Stoffel Vandoorne fails to beat the target time. Pascal Wehrlein make it through as Carlos Sainz stops on track. He stops and Sergio Perez doesn’t make it through. Huge shock for Perez and huge disappointment for Sainz. Lewis Hamilton ends the first session quickest ahead of Max Verstappen and Kimi Raikkonen.

Q2

Valterri Bottas is the first driver out on the track and is the first to complete a lap time of a 1:29:555. Lewis Hamilton and Daniel Ricciardo follows with a 1:29:535 and a 1:30:497. Max Verstappen, Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen follow with a 1:30:307, 1:29:596 and a 1:29:843. Right now, Nico Hulkenberg and Jolyon Palmer are sitting 9th and 10th. With 4 minutes to go, Fernando Alonso gets out of his McLaren car and is not going out again. His Qualifying is over with a power unit failure looking to be the cause.

Romain Grosjean, Jolyon Palmer make it through with Esteban Ocon and Pascal Wehrlein not making the target time. Nico Hulkenberg puts in a great lap and gets through to Q3. Lewis Hamilton ends the session quickest ahead of Valterri Bottas and Sebastian Vettel.

Q3

Daniel Ricciardo is the first driver out on the track and is the first to complete a lap time of a 1:30:007. Valterri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton smash that time with a 1:28:844 and a 1:28:792. Sebastian Vettel ends up 3rd after his first lap on a 1:29:247. Hamilton leads from Bottas, Vettel, Kimi Raikkonen, Max Verstappen, Ricciardo and Felipe Massa. Romain Grosjean, Nico Hulkenberg and Jolyon Palmer are yet to set a timed lap.

Grosjean heads out onto the track with 6 minutes to go. He sets a 1:30:763 which puts him in 8th place. The drivers head out for their final runs with Bottas ahead of Hamilton. Bottas is quick in Sector 1 with Hamilton matching the Finn. Bottas is still going very quick in Sector 2. He crossed the line and goes on Provisional Pole Position with a 1:28:769. Hamilton has a poor Sector 2, dropping two tenths down on his best time. He comes across the line on a 1:29:012 and doesn’t beat Bottas. Bottas becomes the 98th driver to take pole position in Formula One. Ricciardo manages to split the Ferrari drivers in 4th while Hulkenberg finishes 7th after a brilliant lap.